Mirror Shine
by ClockworkOtter
Summary: Sometimes, a synaptic net dive can begin the healing. Parental!Vincent/Sephiroth, no pairings.


A/N: Okay, I actually really like this plot bunny. I hope you guys do, too. Review, please, reviews make my creative juices flow faster.

Warnings: Nothing to bad. This actually won't be a slash!

Pairings: Parental!Vincent/Sephiroth. No real pairings, though. This isn't a romance.

Sephiroth opened his eyes to the sound of Mother's voice. Mother whispered in his ear, cooing softly, telling him what he needed to do.

_Go to Edge._ Mother whispered.

"Yes, mother." Sephiroth rasped, trying to get up. _Damn Cloud..._ He thought, feeling a burst of anger. _He is holding me back again!_ He forced himself to his feet, swaying. He looked around. His sword was gone, but that was alright- Sephiroth could easily summon it. The leather of his trenchcoat clung to his skin unpleasantly. He sighed; it would probably shrink when the rain stopped. He stepped forward, boots splashing in the puddles. In only minutes, you couldn't even tell they were black. He walked, following the commands Mother gave him, ignoring the injuries that slowly leaked blood into the mud.

He summoned his sword. It was clean, and had been polished to a mirror shine. He tested the edge, still walking. It was sharper than ever. He smiled, satisfied. Cloud had likely taken it as a trophy, and kept it clean and sharp.

Well, that benefited him well enough. He sheathed it, smirking despite the cold rain and the dull ache of the wounds.

Vincent blinked, staring at the top of the fireplace. _The sword is gone._

He knew, then, that Sephiroth was back. He almost smiled.

He opened the bag that held his phone and pulled it out. He flipped open the screen and dialed in Shelke's number. _Maybe I can fix everything._

_Maybe I can save my son..._

Shelke hung up, smiling. It was time. She hurried to gather her things. Vincent would meet her in ten minutes. He was borrowing Cloud's motorcycle.

She smirked. 'Borrowing' probably wasn't the correct term.

_Borrowing without permission, maybe, but Cloud would want to know why Vincent needed it. That would be inconvenient._

Sephiroth stopped, standing less than three furlongs away from Edge. He listened closely, but all he heard was a motorcycle in the distance and the normal sounds of a city.

What was left of it, anyway.

He smirked, surveying the damage Meteor had done. _Not as destructive as it should have been, though._ "Right, mother?" He asked out loud.

_Yes._ She whispered. _You could have done better._ He winced at the rebuke, he knew he'd disappointed her.

"I promise, mother. I won't allow them to get in my way ever again."

"How are we going to find him?" Shelke shouted over the roar of the motorcycle, clinging for dear life to Vincent's back.

"I put a tracker on his sword." Vincent replied, barely loud enough for her to hear him.

Shelke nodded. _I see._

They rode in what little silence a motorcycle allowed.

Sephiroth frowned. He was only a furlong away now, but the motorcycle was approaching, and fast. _Didn't Cloud have a motorcycle?_ He unsheathed his sword.

The motorcycle roared out of the city, coming straight towards him. Sephiroth blinked. _That's not Cloud._ Instead, the man in the red cape- what was his name? And a redheaded young girl were riding towards him. The man stopped the motorcycle when they were close enough to see each others faces. He leaped off-

And suddenly, instead of the man, a dog-like monster came loping towards him, faster than Sephiroth would have believed possible. He raised his sword, but he was slower than he should have been. _Damn- my injury!_ The dog-man knocked his sword away and tackled Sephiroth, pinning him down to the mud. Sephiroth lay stunned for a moment, then started to struggle for all he was worth.

The head changed, back to the man's. "NOW!"

Everything went black.

Cloud stared at the empty space where his motorcycle should be. _Someone stole Fenrir?_ He thought, stunned.

Before he could call for someone else- maybe a friend had borrowed it? He heard the familiar rumble. He frowned, and waited.

Vincent pulled into the garage, Shelke clinging to him and someone lying unconscious on his lap. Cloud frowned.

The man had long silver hair- _long silver hair?_

_Sephiroth!_

Vincent shut the engine down and looked up at Cloud. "Hold him, please?" He asked. Shelke had fallen asleep, somehow, and he didn't want her to fall if he tried to get off.

"Why is Sephiroth here?" Cloud asked.

Vincent sighed. "Take him. I'd prefer to explain to everyone at once."

Cloud nodded, understanding. Vincent hated to repeat himself. He walked over and held out his arms for the man. Vincent handed him to Cloud. Cloud nearly dropped the man.

"He's heavy." Cloud commented. Vincent nodded.

"Extra bone and muscle density." He half-turned and shook Shelke's shoulder. "Shelke."

"Hmm?" She looked up. "Oh, we're there.." She clambered off the motorcycle. "Should I call everyone up?"

Vincent nodded. "I'm sure they'll want us to explain."

Within half an hour, Sephiroth was lying on an extra bed in the Seventh Heaven, and the entire group was crowded around the bed, staring at Vincent and Sephiroth.

"Vincent? Can you explain now?" Cloud asked.

Vincent sighed. "The woman I used to love, Lucrecia, is Sephiroth's real mother. Hojo believed he was the father. But I am."

Cloud raised one eyebrow. "You're... Sephiroth's father?"

Vincent inclined his head. "Lucrecia made Sephiroth into a creature with the mental capacity to synchronize with Jenova. I learned this after reading files I found in Nibelheim mansion."

Shelke broke in. "Vincent showed them to me and asked if I could break into Sephiroth's mind and destroy it. We didn't know for sure, so we had a backup plan. If it didn't work, we would do whatever it took to make sure he could never move again.

"So Vincent put a tracking device on Sephiroth's sword. If Sephiroth came back and summoned the sword, we'd be able to find him. He did, so we tracked him down. Vincent attacked him and held him down while I did the synaptic net drive.

"Inside Sephiroth's mind, I 'uninstalled' the 'hardware' that allowed Sephiroth to connect to Jenova. Then I 'deleted' Jenova's influence on him. Sephiroth is now just a particularly amazing SOLDIER First Class. Or, rather, former SOLDIER first class." She amended. "He will still have his memories, but the real Sephiroth is in control."

"When will he wake up?" Cloud asked.

"An hour or so. He needs to be healed." Shelke added.

Tifa nodded. "I'll get a materia." She turned and walked out of the room.

Vincent sighed. He looked down at his son.

"Uhh, Vince?"

Vincent looked up. "Yuffie."

"How is this bastard your son?" She asked.

Vincent sighed. "Shouldn't it be obvious...?"

Yuffie turned scarlet. "You- you mean-!" She started to giggle. Vincent's cheeks felt oddly hot.

He refused to look at her, staring very firmly at his gauntlet.

_Damn Yuffie._ He thought.

Sephiroth opened his eyes, frowning. _What an odd dream... I might need to go get a mental test, if I'm dreaming about going mad._

He sat up. A blond, spiky-haired man sat at the foot of the bed, watching him. He had one hand on the hilt of his sword. Sephiroth frowned. "You're... Cloud, right?" He asked.

Cloud blinked. "Yes."

Sephiroth shook his head. "It wasn't a dream then?" He asked. He remembered how the man had looked at Nibelheim, and he looked different now. He looked like he had in his 'dream.' He wasn't the grunt anymore.

"No."

Sephiroth sighed. "Where am I, then?"

"The Seventh Heaven." Cloud answered. "I'll get Vincent." Cloud stood up and left the room. Sephiroth settled back onto the pillow, frowning. _The Seventh Heaven... what is that? Maybe this 'Vincent' can explain._

The man in the red cape walked in, followed by Cloud.

"Sephiroth." The man said. "How are you?"

Sephiroth thought about that. "Confused." He answered.

The man nodded, as if he had expected the answer. He turned and whispered something to Cloud. Cloud nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. The man walked over to the chair at the foot of the bed and sat down.

"You're Vincent?"

The man nodded.

"And where am I?"

"The Seventh Heaven, a bar and restaurant in Edge." Vincent answered.

"Did... that really happen?"

"What?"

"Nibelheim, and after..."

"I'm afraid so."

"Ah." Sephiroth looked down. "Why did you save me?"

"I knew the truth." Vincent answered. "And you're my son."

"What?" Sephiroth's head snapped up, and he winced as whiplash hit. He rubbed his neck.

"You're my son." Vincent repeated. "Mine and Lucrecia's."

Sephiroth's eyes widened. "Lucrecia...?" Why was that name familiar?

Vincent nodded somberly. "She was a scientist I was supposed to protect. I fell in love with her. She married Hojo, but loved me. You were supposed to be Hojo's son, and they were going to experiment on you. Hojo believed you were his son. When I tried to protect you and Lucrecia, Hojo shot and killed me."

Sephiroth frowned. "He killed you...?"

Vincent nodded. "And used my body in the most degrading way possible." Sephiroth's eyes widened. He couldn't mean-! "He experimented on me, and changed everything about my body. He gave monsters free reign in my body. When he threw me out as a failure, Lucrecia put Chaos and the protomateria in my body. And I was alive again." He fell silent.

Sephiroth couldn't help but feel a distinct relief that Vincent hadn't meant what he had thought. That was something Sephiroth didn't want to imagine. "I see." He yawned, feeling exhausted despite having just slept.

Vincent stood. "You should rest." He said quietly. "Don't hesitate to call if you need something."

Sephiroth managed a smile. "Yes."

AN:/ Well! Here's the first chappie. Since my poll is at a tie, I'm going to wait until I get a real result on it. And, since I got a plot bunny, I wrote it up. Hope you guys liked it!


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